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Cover Letter Myths That Could Stop You Cold
"Cover Letters For Dummies(r)" by Joyce Lain Kennedy.
A handwritten cover letter is best - it's personal
False! Handwriting is certainly personal - but for job letters the risks are too high. What are the risks? Employers may assume you are way behind the times if you don't use a computer's word processor, or they may be unable to read your penmanship. If an employer wants a sample of your handwriting, the employer will request one. Your only handwriting should be your signature at the end, written in black or blue ink. (Colored inks like red or green are seen as unprofessional. Don't risk a job for a color statement.)
Resumes and networking are infinitely more important than cover letters in a job search
False! Finding a job is not a one-trick pony. You need the tools of marketing materials - cover letters and resumes - in your quest for job leads, which include recruitment advertising response, networking, and direct application among the most productive techniques. No one component is provably more important than the others. In a job search during the Great Downsizing of America, you need all the help you can get.
Anyone can find a job - if your cover letter isn't working, the letter is at fault
False! Your marketing materials - a cover letter or resume - can become an easy focus for your anxieties about a job search. Many of the moving parts of the employment process are frustratingly placed beyond your control: voicemail keeps you from reaching a preferred employer, job openings for your target seem to go underground, interviews fail to spark job offers.
By contrast, the preparation of a cover letter and resume is entirely under your control. When things go wrong, blaming the marketing materials is convenient (although often the blame is well placed). Consequently, job seekers often think if they can only whip their marketing materials into perfect shape, the other parts of the search will turn out favorably. The truth is, all parts of your search must be up and running.
Your cover letter gets you a job
False! According to this logic, a cherry pit gets you a cherry. A cherry pit planted in fertile soil gets you a tree and then maybe a cherry. A Red Hot cover letter riding shotgun for a resume gets you an interview and then maybe a job. To succeed in your job search, you need a strategy for finding job leads (Job Hunting For Dummies can help) and a Kick Butt resume (see my book, Resumes For Dummies, for what puts your resume in the Kick Butt class), supported by a Red Hot cover letter. In addition, you need marketable skills, appropriate personal qualities, interviewing strengths, and the right references. It's the total package that determines who wins the job.
The cover letter is your chance to talk about your personal life and feelings
False! Your resume talks about you; your cover letter talks about your intended employer - and how your employer can benefit from the splendid assets you offer. Describe special benefits that set you above other applicants. Rambling about personal feelings and situations in an employment letter is a blatant display of self-interest and, worse, is boring. An exception can be made when you're seeking to relocate (provided you offer to pay for the move). Many employers appreciate the desire to be near family as a reason to relocate. No need to go into your uncle's stint in the nursing home - having family in the area is enough.
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